Joanna > Recent Status Updates

Anyway, let's see what Harlequin Teen has to say on the subject.

This book is tonally confusing. Like...very much so.

Oh my God. I cannot take girl vs. girl cattiness. That's the thing making this book most difficult for me - not the cheesy descriptions or the lazy supernatural elements or the silly circumstances. It's this. Just...no.

Iiii completely lost track of the "Nutcracker" parallel around about the time they go undercover in the faerie "pleasure house". In the words of that girl from the YouTube where she's crying about KStew cheating on Rob whatshisface: "What do you stand to achieve?!"

"Joanna," you might say, "What exactly were you expecting when you decided to read a novel that was a 'dark retelling' of the Nutcracker?" IDK, exactly, but I think something a little more fun than this...

This just isn't as much as a page-turner for me as the first one was! I don't know why. Maybe I just needed to see other books for a little while before returning to this series, Idk. But I just don't feel as compelled to find out what will happen next as I did with "Cinder".

In its relentless attempt to charm, I want to throw this book off the nearest highway bridge.

Yes. It's time for a reread.

And FINALLY we meet Violet! Aw man, I'm so ready. (I've been ready since the beginning.) I feel like everything from here on out could either make or break this story. We shall see...

So far this book has a total vice on my heart. Ugh, it's so well-done. I can't put it down! I love the multiple perspectives and how authentically the voices of her middle school, high schoolers, and adults alike all ring. So good, why did I not read sooner?

Checked it out again in my library system! Gonna finish it. Not bad, but the Mary Kingsley story is still my favorite so far.

Interesting/cool things about this series: times passes the same in the alternate, magic world as it does in the "real world". (Jason doesn't return to his world only to discover only about an hour has gone by.) It has a very traditional thematic rhythm as far as fantasy-adventure stories go, but the world building gets more and more interesting as the story progresses. (A lot of original creatures/fantasy races.)

So far, this one is failing to draw me in... Maybe the next 168 pgs will prove more engaging.

"And the strange spring snow fell only in that golden moment of dawn, the turning page between night and say." Do you see what I am dealing with here. This beautiful perfect excellence?

Reluctantly have to put this "on hold" because I had to return it to the NYPL before I moved back to VA. Hoping my local library here has it... I loved the first short story about Mary Kingsley (now I want to read her writings!). Not so sure about this next story about Magellan and the translator that become infatuated with him. It's got like 20 more pages to it, though.

I read this on the train when I can't stand thinking about school anymore. It's a fun diversion, and kind of beautiful. Interested to see where it goes.

I'm in the last hundred or so pages - why can't I bring myself to finish this thing? Maybe it has something to do that every other character - with the exception of Lucy, who is now dead - sounds the same. I pick up the book, read where I left off, and commonly forget whose journal/letter/phonograph recording it is I'm reading. Ooor maybe I just have a short attention. Either seems as likely cause as the other.

Kind of wading slow through this one. The world-building is really interested & obviously very thought-out. Action-scenes read a little more laboriously than they probably should.